This Is What Happened When We Tried The Hair Mask That's All Over Instagram

    You're probably going to want to try this.

    by Natalya Lobanova, Ailbhe Malone, Jasmin Nahar, Hanifah Rahman, Remee Patel, Dionne Grant, Cece
    Tim Lane / BuzzFeed

    If you have hair and use the internet, there is a very high chance you've seen adverts for the Coco & Eve hair mask.

    Time Lane / BuzzFeed

    Seven of us, all with different hair types, will try this mask out. We will each try it twice and see if there is a difference each time, and if there is benefit in sustained use of it.

    Dionne

    Dionne Granty / BuzzFeed

    Hair type: I have quite tight coils, which I wear out in an Afro most days. Due to a change in diet, my hair has felt quite dry and brittle of late and has been shedding quite dramatically.

    Hair routine: I wash and deep condition my hair with Keracare Shampoo and Conditioner once every two weeks. I finish off with Shea Moisture Black Castor Oil Treatment Masque. However, I do activate my curls with water and leave-in conditioner every day.

    After the first wash: To be honest, I’m a creature of habit. If something isn’t broke, I rarely fix it. But, on this occasion, it was broke. My hair was uncharacteristically dry and brittle and my usual tight and coily curl pattern had become somewhat loose and lifeless. I was excited to try Coco & Eve’s masque and was sold on its “nourishing” promise from the offset. After the first wash, my hair felt soft and moisturised. I received comments from my family and colleagues about how “juicy” my curls looked!

    After the second wash: By the second wash, I was sold. My curls have become juicier, my hair is regaining its body and its tight curl pattern, which excites me. The dramatic shedding has subsided and it’s a pleasure to see and feel my hair.

    Final thoughts: I rarely use the word ‘love’, but I actually love the product. It also smells amazing! My hair feels more moisturised, fuller and healthier since adding it to my regime. Getting my hair back to 100% health is a journey, but I will definitely be including Coco & Eve’s Super Nourishing Coconut & Fig Hair Masque in it.

    Natalya

    Natalya Lobanova / BuzzFeed

    Hair type: Very thick and dry and quite prone to frizz. It has a natural wave that I blow-dry out. It's in good condition but just naturally very dry. I dyed it with a semipermanent gloss about six months ago but most of that has washed out now.

    Hair routine: I wash it every 3-4 days with an anti-dandruff shampoo, then follow up with literally any conditioner, then with Aveda Damage Remedy Hair Repair before blow drying.

    After the first wash: I had such high hopes. Surely this could make my hair silky smooth? Nope. No difference. Literally the same. It felt "coated" when it was wet but dried to the same texture.

    After the second wash: I really don't think there was a difference?? Looking at the photos, I think my hair looks slightly smoother in the last two, but I also think it might be because I took those photos later in the day whereas the first was immediately after blow-drying, when my hair was a bit static. The texture still felt fairly rough as always. I think maybe I just didn't use enough or leave it in for long enough?

    Final thoughts: Ultimately, a hair mask will only ever "coat" your hair and will not be able to change the actual structure of it. I think maybe my expectations were too high and I should probably look at my diet and lifestyle instead, ugh. That said, I am willing to give this another go because if it worked so well for my colleagues.

    Hanifah

    Hanifah Rahman / Via BuzzFeed

    Hair type: I have very thick, dense, corkscrew curls. Some sections have fine, thin strands, but most of it is coarse, porous afro. Apart from a few strands of heat damage, it’s in decent condition, it’s just naturally very dry — it literally drinks in any kind of moisturising product, and is normally pretty frizzy.

    Hair routine: My entire washday routine usually takes about two hours, so I try do it around once a week. I any shampoo, condition, and deep condition my hair with this Shea Moisture Masque, and do my first round of detangling with a wide tooth comb while that’s on. I then use KeraCare Leave In Conditioner, Shea Moisture’s Curl Enhancing Smoothie, and do a second round of detangling. I finish off by tying it in a high puff and using some avocado oil on the ends.

    Thoughts after first wash: It definitely left my curls noticeably shinier, but I’m mostly impressed with how much it cut down my overall routine. After using the mask I spent about 5 minutes finger detangling — it literally melted away my knots! Such a huge difference! I didn’t have to use as much of this as I do with my normal deep conditioner, and it gave my hair a really mild, pleasant scent.

    Thoughts after second wash: I normally dread washday, but I was so excited to use the mask again that I only waited six days to do my second wash! Once again, it didn’t disappoint — I got the same results, and my curls felt much less dry and more defined. The moisture remained long after my second wash, and my hair definitely had move bounce and movement.

    Final thoughts: I love this mask doesn’t contain any nasty chemicals and is cruelty free, and I recommend this mask to anyone with dry, porous hair. A little bit goes a long way, and it’s a real time saver when it comes to detangling — I can definitely say that it’s now a permanent addition to my routine. 💯 💯 💯

    Jasmin

    Jasmin Nahar / BuzzFeed

    Hair type: Thick, but not coarse. I don't get it cut very often but it's in decent condition and I've never dyed it. It's naturally wavy but the length of my hair weighs it down, so it's mostly straight with a few bumps in it that I straighten out with a flat iron.

    Hair routine: I wash my hair twice a week with anti-dandruff shampoo because it's the only thing that doesn't irritate my scalp, and then follow up with Aussie Mega Conditioner. I put some Bumble and Bumble heat protectant hair oil spray on and blow dry it with my head tipped upside down. In the mornings I just give it a quick go over around the top with straighteners, and finish up with some John Frieda Frizz-Ease hairspray.

    Thoughts after first wash: As my poor co-workers can attest because of my ranting about this, I did not like it at all. I rinsed it out as thoroughly as I could, but for some reason it just made my hair very, very slippery and took out all the texture, while still going knotty throughout the day. My hair wouldn't hold any of the styling I did, and it felt greasy really quickly. I was so relieved when it was time to wash my hair again.

    Thoughts after second wash: I used it more sparingly and concentrated it on the ends more. The results were less slippery than the first time but I still wasn't into how it made my hair feel.


    Final thoughts:     I'm sure it's great for some people and it is really, really nourishing, but it's just not for me! I'll be sticking to my normal conditioner and hair oil routine.

    Remee

    Remee Patel / BuzzFeed

    Hair type: Thick, but fine (i.e. not coarse). I recently cut it quite a bit shorter than my usual length so it feels even thicker and can be prone to going a little mushroom-y. I've also bleached strands of my hair so even though I'd cut off a lot of the super dry parts of my hair, in general it's probably a little on the dry side because of the bleach and dye.

    Hair routine: I usually wash my hair about twice a week, using dry shampoo in between. I don't really use any fancy products, just your regular high street haircare, and I usually leave my hair to dry naturally. If I style it, it's usually with a curling tong, but that's probably only a couple of times a month.

    Thoughts after one wash: I loved this immediately. I used it instead of my conditioner as instructed, and I could already feel the massive difference in quality. Normally when I wash out my conditioner my hair barely feels any softer, but with this, the silkiness remained. When my hair dried naturally it honestly looked like it had been blow-dried, the product seemed to have smoothed out the dry areas in my hair, yet added separation to my layers!

    Thoughts after the second wash: Even more in love with this! In the photo this is actually my hair BEFORE I started styling it (I was going out so wanted to curl it) and as you can see it again has that same freshly blow-dried look, except maybe it's a bit shinier than last time?

    Final thoughts: I will absolutely keep using this stuff. I will use this in place of regular conditioner, hopefully the price will even out as a small amount of this goes a long way. This product genuinely works wonders on my hair so would be worth me parting with my hard-earned cash. I can imagine if you have thinner, finer hair it would easily make it greasy and weigh it down, but I think because of my hair's thickness and tendency to dry out quickly, this deep-conditioning mask works surprisingly well. TL;DR if you've got thick, dry hair – this stuff actually works.

    Ailbhe

    Ailbhe Malone / BuzzFeed

    Hair type: Very fine, and super-bleached. Like, bleached to death. Like, my hair literally snapped the other day. My hair used to be very thick and curly, but my hair type changed after I got sick and started taking medication in my early 20s.


    Hair routine:     Because my hair is so fine, I wash it everyday, but I also blow dry and straighten it. I know that's not great, so I leave it to dry naturally at the weekends, and also put in hair oil overnight once a week.

    After one wash: My hair was noticeably softer, but it also felt a bit claggy – I put this down to maybe not washing out the mask properly.

    After the second wash: I left the mask on for the full 10 minutes, and washed it out thoroughly, but still felt some residue.

    Final thoughts: I think my hair is too fine for this kind of intense mask – I'll stick with oil.

    Cee

    BuzzFeed / Cee Chandra

    Hair type: Fine and naturally on the straight side — even though it can get really frizzy at times. I've also dyed my hair several times throughout the past year so it's always a little dry and probably damaged.

    Hair routine: I wash my hair three times a week using... pretty much whatever shampoo is in sight. I'm very consistent with my conditioner though (because I love my standard coconut conditioner). I often blow dry my hair when I'm in a rush, but on weekends, I simply let it air dry.

    Thoughts after one wash: I was kinda sad because I had really high expectations following the opinions of some of my co-workers. It wasn't terrible but it just felt like a regular hair mask. My hair does look softer in the picture but in person it felt a little greasy... It did smell nice though, so I guess that's a plus! It was a little hard to wash out since it was quite slippery.

    Thoughts after second wash: I used a little less than previously since my hair got greasy very quickly. My hair did end up looking a little shinier and alive than usual but just two days later, it ended up getting really greasy at the roots.

    Final thoughts: It seems to be a great product for some people but unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. It's great that it's cruelty-free though!

    The mask was provided by Coco & Eve to BuzzFeed free of charge, but we were under no obligation to be positive in our coverage.